Colombia, presided over by the leftist Gustavo Petro, declared its portion of the Amazon as an area free from large-scale mining and hydrocarbon extraction and invited other countries where the biome is located to do the same, causing embarrassment to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, an ally of the Colombian president.
The announcement was made on Thursday (13) by Irene Vélez Torres, interim minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, during the meeting of ministers from the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) area, within COP 30, in Belém.
“Colombia decided to take the first step. We are the first country in the Amazon basin to declare the entire Colombian portion of the Amazon biome as a reserve of renewable natural resources, protecting it from large-scale mining and hydrocarbon extraction activities”, said Vélez Torres, in a statement released by the Colombian government.
“We do this not only as an act of environmental sovereignty, but also as a fraternal appeal to the other countries that share the Amazon biome, because the Amazon knows no borders and its preservation requires us to walk together”, added the minister.
The Amazon covers 42% of Colombia’s territory, but only 7% of the forest is located in the country. Approximately 60% of the biome’s total area is part of Brazil.
In October, Petrobras obtained a license from the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) for exploratory drilling in Amapá, 500 km from the mouth of the Amazon River and 175 km from the coast, on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin.
Eight organizations from the environmental, indigenous, quilombola and artisanal fishermen areas filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Pará to question the license.
Also last month, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) appealed a Federal Court decision that had denied in September the suspension of the auction of 19 oil and gas exploration blocks in the Foz do Amazonas Basin.